You are asking an interesting philosophical question, I feel a little out of my depth trying to answer.
But yes, I believe every meme is an idea, every idea is a meme, and there is a 1:1 relationship. The word "meme" is just an idea that is viewed through the lens of evolution.
Now as for the second question- should a screenshot of Twitter be allowed on this "meme" sub? - I don't have a strong opinion, but I lean towards no
Your insist that memes must change or recontextualize at every step, but this is your personal interpretation and is not supported by any definition. This is analogous to saying "genes are only genes when they mutate, otherwise it's just a bunch of amino acids".
An exact copy of a gene is a gene. An exact copy of a meme is a meme.
It is not worthless at all. Studying cultural changes through the lens of evolution is very useful and enlightening. That's why I referenced the books that go into this in depth.
I would argue your narrow definition of "meme" is worthless because we already have a term for what you are describing - they are called "image macros".
Well the definition is correct, it is Antagonistic's narrow interpretation of that definition that is incorrect.
The key is evolution. For something to evolve, it must have the ability to be transferred, to be changed/mutated, and to be stored. Both genes and memes have these properties.
Literally any idea is a meme. If you can think it, it's a meme.
If you break a gene in two, the result is two genes. If you break a meme in two, the result is two memes.
The name "Antagonistic" is a meme.
The letter 'A' is a meme.
The sound you make when you say 'A' is a meme.
The idea of air vibrating to make sound is a meme.
In one sense this is very true- the wealth of the American worker has been stolen over time by capitalists.
But the truth is that one person supporting a family of five has never been sustainable. It was only possible in an era when the American lifestyle was heavily subsidized by the rest of the world through post-WWII economic domination.
As worker productivity continues to rise, we can hope for a future where 1 person's work can support 5. But, at least for the near future, the math simply doesn't work out.
If you go any deeper than the surface-level Google definition (that you are pedantically picking apart), then you will find literally any idea or unit of culture is a meme.
Read the last chapter of Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene. Actually please read the whole book, it's a masterpiece of science popularization. Or read Susan Blackmore's The Meme Machine, it explains the concept of memes and how they evolve in further detail.
In my experience, when you bring up FMLA, then you're going to be fired.
Its a well-intentioned protection, but not enough legal teeth. Corporations have learned how to work around it.
This problem will continue to get worse until workers gain power in our society. Mass unionization or socialist revolution would solve the problem; both are very unlikely.
All that is left is violence; may a thousand Luigi's bloom.
China invests in modern transportation and clean energy generation.
US invests in violence and artificial general intelligence.
Which model will come out on top? Difficult to say. Historically speaking, the most violent usually dominates. For those of us who dream of a better future for humanity, the Chinese model is obviously preferred.
If we had a functional democracy, then the opposition party would have made Epstein a major figure in the presidential elections.
The Democratic Party had three opportunities - 2016, 2020, 2024 - when they should have been shouting "Epstein" from every podium, instead they brushed it under the rug.
The reality is we didn't "all" know. Ask any random person on the street, they've never heard of TrafficKing or Julie K Brown or even Virginia Giuffre. It is easy to blame individual voters for their ignorance, but it makes much more sense to view this as an institutional failure.
Yeah I agree. Cheering this on feels good, because fuck Trump and fuck Trump voters, but it is so shortsighted.
The remaining small- and medium-sized farms are going to go under, and get bought up by the big Ag firms. We are speeding straight towards a monopoly on farming in this country.
The consequences of an Ag monopoly will be devastating for the environment, devastating for the economy, and devastating for anyone who wants to eat healthy food.
You speak with certainty, but so much could happen.
Trump could die any day, by assassin or natural causes, and that would mean it is too late to pardon. Vance would not necessarily pardon anyone - he may treat Trump like a saint, or he might throw him under the bus because the Trump-Epstein sexual assaults and coverups are too politically damaging.
Also, doing a blanket pardon devalues the pardon itself. I think Trump is more likely to selectively pardon: People who have dirt on him, people who bribe him, and people who stay sycophantically loyal to him. Everyone else will get fucked like all the construction workers he never paid.
With all that said, yeah there is a good chance Bondi gets a pardon.
If our next president is a Republican or corporate Democrat, nothing will happen to her.
If we somehow get a populist Dem, then Obstruction of Justice Tampering with Witnesses/Evidence (18 U.S.C. § 1512) comes with a penalty of up to 30 years in federal prison. She would likely get sentenced to 10 and serve about 6 years for her role in the Epstein coverup.
As a leftist I can assure you, yes the left is significantly weaker, and there is a deep imbalance.
The left, specifically in America, has suffered gravely over the past century. The Red Scare era made it functionally illegal to be a leftist. Many leftists were fired, some were killed, and leftist thought was purged from our education system.
The following Cold War era pumped our populace full of anti-socialist propaganda. The majority of people over 50 believe socialism is just as bad as fascism, and that socialists are the enemy.
The American left has yet to recover from these deep wounds.
You are asking an interesting philosophical question, I feel a little out of my depth trying to answer.
But yes, I believe every meme is an idea, every idea is a meme, and there is a 1:1 relationship. The word "meme" is just an idea that is viewed through the lens of evolution.
Now as for the second question- should a screenshot of Twitter be allowed on this "meme" sub? - I don't have a strong opinion, but I lean towards no